"Who...are you exactly?"
Elio was so confused and afraid, and he felt betrayed by so many things being revealed to him all at once. A suffocating feeling was starting to build up in his chest when he realized that Grimm was not entirely the person he knew he was.
"I am the keeper of this place," Grimm said; his voice was calm yet heavy with meaning. Then, in his mind, he hoped Elio wouldn't ask that question about him.
Who am I exactly...?
His following words brought chills to Elio's spine.
"I'm just like them; I am dead."
That's right. That's precisely what he was. Dead. But that one single revelation took seconds for Elio to process. It kept ringing in his mind like a scream, enough to make him deaf for any reason from the man he thought he already knew.
Dead...
"H-how..." Elio gasped; he wanted to add something, but the words wouldn't escape from his throat for some reason.
"Elio, I..." anxiety eluded from Grimm's breath as he lowered his gaze to explain, "...I know this is a lot to process, and I will understand if you're confused and--"
"Confused?" As Elio repeats those words, a hint of intense irritation is also in his voice. "I'm not confused, I'm freaking out! Dead, you say? How am I supposed to believe that?! You're not supposed to talk to a dead person or touch them or even date them!"
Elio panted heavily, a slight discomfort poking in his chest. Either it was from his failing lungs, or it was from anger, he doesn't know. Maybe he didn't even care anymore.
Grimm flinched when Elio's anger, fear, and frustration manifested as outbursts. It was purely understandable and expected, but he did not anticipate that the young man's voice could cut deeper into him, causing him to feel guilt.
"I know everything doesn't make sense." Grimm tried his best not to trigger Elio with his words. He remained gentle as he spoke, but hesitation was evident in his expression. "But I'm telling you the truth..."
Elio fell into silence. He stared at his hands, shaking from both fear and disbelief. This feeling was familiar to him as if he already had this fear devouring him from the past. But the memory wasn't there. He can't seem to find it.
He returned his gaze back to Grimm. The older man was wearing that expression of someone who wouldn't joke or lie for something like Death. After all, does throwing a joke or lie about Grimm being dead benefit the older man? It doesn't really make sense to him.
Unless...
He's really telling the truth.
Grimm really was dead.
Everyone in the funeral shop was dead.
For some reason, he still doesn't know yet; he can enter and exit the shop at any time without a problem, and according to Grimm, the shop is penetrable only by those people who are already dead.
Which means...
"A...am I crazy?" Elio felt his chest squeeze the moment he thought about it. "Am I hallucinating or something?"
"No, you're not," Grimm replied, trying to reassure the young man.
"Then, maybe it's because of the cancer! Maybe I'm dead, but I just didn't realize it! But...but no, that's impossible!" There was a whirlwind of fear and denial in Elio's mind, destroying the young man's ability to rationalize everything happening at that moment. "It's impossible...I could feel you and the staff...I could talk to them, touch them, hear them...and this place, this place...how could I enter here if you're saying that I'm not dead?"
Grimm couldn't take any longer to see Elio being so confused and fearful that his instincts told him to reach the young man and hold his hand.
"Elio, listen to me."
Elio shifted his eyes to Grimm, tears forming in the corner of his eyes when he felt Grimm's cold hands.
"You're not crazy, you're not hallucinating, and you're not dead." Grimm wished he could explain everything to Elio in an easier way, but the thing now was far more complicated. "You're special; that's the only explanation I could give you. I observed you from the moment I saw you entered this shop. You can pass this realm without you noticing it. You can see me, even without my solid form. That means you can see the dead as if they were alive. Those customers, they were already dead. They were here to process their transition from this world to what awaited them in the afterlife..."
Elio was trying to process everything: see the dead, transition, wait...
Special?
"That person, Mr. Goldsmith, said something like that to me back then at Velvet's. He said the same thing: I'm special. Is that what he means?"
Grimm nodded. "Yes."
"Who is he exactly? Is...he like you? Is he dead, too?"
"No, he's not dead," Grimm answered, but before Elio could have that sense of relief that somehow he could talk to a living person, Grimm told him the truth. "He was Death himself."
Elio felt his lungs constrict the moment he heard the words; he was Death himself.
"You're telling me...that Death came to me personally, why?"
"He was there to see how special you are and how much threat you would cause to the natural balance he was maintaining."
So it turns out Elio's a threat. His existence was a threat to that so-called natural balance.
Elio swallowed hard, trying to absorb and rationalize everything, but he couldn't. Everything was too much; Grimm's presence alone was too much; he needed space right away, or else...
...he'll crash.
"Will you..." The young man turned away his gaze while letting go of Grimm's hand, avoiding any more eye contact with the older man, "...will you please leave me alone. I need time to process this, please?"
Grimm hesitated the moment Elio turned his eyes off him. He wanted to reach the young man again. He could comfort him this time instead of fear and uncertainty. But the words that escaped from Elio were not words of someone just asking for a space; he was begging because it was too much to handle.
So, without another word, he stood up and walked away, leaving Elio in his bed, alone, shaking, trying to collate everything in his mind.
Then Elio realized that dying from cancer might not be the worst faith waiting for him...
...but this.
While Elio had a hard time processing his life alone, struggling to make sense of what he had just learned, the Oswalds were also thriving. But unlike Elio, they were recovering, gaining power, prestige, and glory.
Before Elio tarnished it a year ago, the Oswald name was synonymous with wealth and status. They are a very influential family of businessmen in the north, and everyone looks up to them. That's why when Elio had been part of their downfall, or should we say, the one to blame for their downfall, it brought a significant tarnish in their reputation, so sour, so shaken, that no one in the business world would ever want to deal with them anymore.
As if their time as a powerful dynasty ended in tragedy.
But now, the Oswalds are rising again!
For the last two weeks, the Oswalds were all over the news and headlines, flashing their family name on screens in the windows of stores as people passed by:
"Oswald Family Reclaims Their Place Among High Society."
"Oswald Group of Companies Announced New Business Expansion."
"The Resurgence of a Dynasty: The Oswald Legacy Continues."
But Elio wasn't aware of any of it. It could be a good thing. While he was hiding, desperate to survive in the shadows of his failures and regrets, his family, the Oswalds, rose again.
But their sudden return to the limelight was suspicious; something wasn't right.
But who cares? They may be too great that they could overturn the tables to their favor.
Or it could have something to do with the people Elio's father was involved with.
And these people are looking for one person...
Elio.
Leone Oswald, Elio's father, was now smiling in front of his investors after closing a huge business deal. He was satisfied--no, delighted with the turn of events after his son Elio totally fucked up everything he the Oswalds built for so long. His son not only failed to succeed and inherit their businesses, but he almost put the entire family into slums. He paid all the loan sharks, those people who were bothered financially by his useless, pathetic son, who chose to leave their house and run away like a coward.
But all of this success, all the good things happening in their family, had come with a price.
But he wouldn't be the one to pay that due...
His son would.
"Mr. Oswald..." his secretary entered the room right after the investors signed the deal. He leaned towards his boss and whispered something that made Leone excuse himself during their business meeting.
"Will you excuse me, gentlemen?" Leone stood from his seat. He buttoned his suit and nodded slightly before leaving the conference room. While walking in the lavish hallway, he turned to his secretary. He said, "Make sure no other visitors interrupt my meeting with this man. He's quite cranky when being interrupted."
"That will be noted, sir."
They arrived at the private room that was reserved only for unique visitors. When he entered the room, he saw a man sitting on the chair, waiting for his arrival. He has this sharp feature that is well fitted for a businessman: a black suit, well-styled dark hair, and a pair of red eyes that flicked the moment Leone stepped into the room, releasing a quiet air of authority.
"I'm glad you didn't forget..."
Leone Oswald sat on the opposite chair, facing the man. "How could I not?"
"Good, because I've come for you're son. Where is he?"
Even though the man he had a deal with was dangerous, Leone did not show any signs of fear or concern.
"I don't have him. I told you that already the last time we'd talked. That boy left long before you asked for him in exchange for my daughter's soul. Whatever happens after that is already out of my business."
The man's deep red eyes flickered something dangerous when Leone said those words; he rested his elbow on the armrest and said, "You prosper, you supposed to be failing business grows, your wealth multiplies-all in exchange for that one simple thing I asked you in return. And now, you're telling me it's out of your business?"
"It is you who changed the deal." Leone's voice remained calm despite the overpowering presence of the man, should we say, the demon himself. "I merely adapted to your demands. The initial plan was for you to have my daughter, but suddenly, you wanted my son instead. This family had dealt with you for almost five hundred years in exchange for prosperity, offering every female soul as payment. Then, all of a sudden, you wanted that boy who was just a bastard son of my wife from my late twin brother. Why a sudden change of heart?"
The unnamed demon's lips curled into something that challenged Leone's aura. "It's not a change of heart. Besides, I already told you the reason when we last spoke. Do I need to remind you of that again?"
"I know." Leone replied, now starting to get irritated. "But you can't just change what was agreed upon just because you want to..."
The demon just smirked and placed his hands together as he savored Leone's confused reaction.
"For five centuries, your family devotedly fulfilled their covenant to me to offer one female soul in exchange for prosperity. You know the reason: I was searching for a perfect key to open the doors for me to hell. Your family, especially the female ones, was known to possess strong souls that were enough to become the potential key. But it turns out your adopted son, that bastard you are talking about, the child of your brother, was the one I am looking for."
Leone's composure remained neutral, but the anger in his eyes was evident. Yes, that familiar feeling of pure resentment that he had tried to suppress all this time was now coming to the surface.
This demon knows how to get on his nerves.
"Could you imagine? You spent years trying to treat him as your own, even calling him your son, molding him into something useful. But the moment he fails your expectation, you cast him out. But it turns out he is what I have been searching for all along."
There was an unmistakable mocking smile stretched across the demon's lips. He continued as he was preparing to leave the room.
"You should be grateful, Leone. You're enjoying the rewards of our deal instead of your late brother."
Before he leaves, he leans toward Leone, whispering against the man's ear like a creeping shadow.
"Find him. Deliver him to me. Or else, everything you worked out here will be swallowed by the abyss you tried so hard to outrun."
Leone exhaled slowly, keeping his composure as he watched the demon exit the room.
He had no choice.
He had to find his son.